Engineering Challenge: Earthquake-Proof Building

We had to shake up our study of geology a little -- with an earthquake!  So we did an earthquake engineering challenge: Can you design a building model that can withstand the forces of an earthquake? 

The students were given a budget to spend on supplies and a water bottle to serve as the basic building structure. First we did a little research -- watching videos of buildings being tested on a giant shake table: http://imaginationstationtoledo.org/educator/activities/can-you-build-an-earthquake-proof-building 

We noticed that the buildings shook from side to side, and that pieces came loose and fell off, so we brainstormed some ideas about how to stabilize things and how to attach different elements together.

Then, we dived into the engineering process. We designed, built, tested, refined, and evaluated:

Initial instructions.

 Budgeting and sketching initial design ideas.

One of the main design challenges was how to secure the structure to the ground -- the Gemstones most popular solution? Lots of tape!

Budgeting for supplies is always difficult. As in the real world, we cannot always afford exactly what we want, and a lot of negotiation goes on within teams as they weigh pros and cons and come to consensus.

In the initial videos, we noticed that trusses or buttresses and cross-braces really help withstand horizontal forces. Many teams ended up using the most basic truss of all - the super-strong triangle! The building above might have been inspired by our tepee engineering challenge. It was one of the top contenders, making to to the final shake-off.

 Glue is less expensive than tape, and you don't need as much.

This super-simple design ended up being our final winner.

 The initial testing stage was a lot of fun!

We were all proud of our designs and hard work.

As a wrap-up, we took turns testing our designs in front of the class, with Mrs. Towne supplying the shake table effect. Everyone gave and received input. Learning to give and receive constructive criticism can be a difficult skill to master, but it is an important one!

Finally, the top two models participated in the big "shake-off," using the earthquake shake table the middle school  built for  a similar project last year. It was extremely loud, and extremely exciting!